Do you really want to be healed?

Have you ever read a book especially when you were in college and once finished had no idea what you read? Sometimes it happens because the material is over our heads. I can read about Quantum Physics however, I will have no idea what it is. Other times we simply read it to fast. I read a David Baldacci book recently. It was good. Don’t ask me about the story. I know I enjoyed it but I read it for pure enjoyment instead of retainment.

Often we read the Bible because it has been drilled into us as a discipline of the faith. Honestly, if someone reads Leviticus for enjoyment they are not of this world. Most of the time we read the Bible just to read it. Recently a gentleman was boasting that he just read all the way through the Bible. I asked him what he learned? “Honestly” he said, “I learned that there is a lot in there I really don’t understand, but I read it!”

There is a lot we don’t understand. That is because we don’t see it as a book to study. We somehow think inspiration means God wrote the book in heaven and sent it to us. Well, that is not how it worked. Men inspired by God wrote often specifically about issues that in order to understand the value of the writing we need to look deeper.

Recently I came across one of those times in the gospels that made me stop the casual reading and question Jesus. It is in John 5. Jesus comes across a man who is paralyzed. Jesus asks him a question that he does not ask anyone else. He asks “Do you want to be healed?”

Now either Jesus is arrogant, demeaning, plain cruel or I am missing something. You are a bit quicker than I am. I am sure I am missing something. My first thought was “who wouldn’t want to be healed.” Isn’t that a dumb question? Jesus didn’t do dumb things. So, what is the message? I have read this section easily over 20 times and that is no joke. I never stopped to engage the details of this story.

Studying the passage a bit closer than a casual read we find a man who has excuses. We see a man who was putting his hope in a situation that had a very low percentage chance of meeting his need. We also see a man who on his own could not handle the circumstances.

I meet people like that all the time. We blame everybody, everything and all of life for our situation. Meanwhile, we remain paralyzed. Jesus asked the right question. In asking him if he wanted to be healed, he was asking the man to look only to him and away from the excuses and circumstances. Working with people all the time I think by studying the Word instead of a casual read I will begin to ask the same question. It worked for Jesus. So, ”do you want to be healed?” Sometimes (often) it takes more than a few aspirin. Looking to Jesus is so much more than a casual read. He came to change life, not give more justification to remain paralyzed. Go deeper, it’s healing, or “do you really want to be healed?”